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Beethoven has topped this year’s Classic 100: Feel Good countdown with his Symphony No. 9, including the “Ode To Joy” anthem.
The music is beloved across concert stages, as well as popular culture, but has also been a rallying anthem for freedom and peace.
In 1989 “Ode To Joy” was played by protesters in Tiananmen Square, and later that year marked the fall of the Berlin Wall. In recent years, an orchestra of Ukrainian musicians have been toured and recorded the piece, continuing the rallying cry for freedom.
Connecting through a love of music
With 1000 years of music history to choose from, every year the Classic 100 countdown has a particular theme to help voters narrow down their choices, with 2024’s theme being “Feel Good”.
“We know that ‘feel good’ means different things for everyone and that was reflected through voters’ music choices,” says ABC Classic Manager Kat McGuffie. However, throughout the weekend, connecting through music was the overwhelming feel-good theme.
Zayn from Meanjin/Brisbane was listening solo, but said they were “sharing an immense feeling of connectedness to everyone listening.”
Others were spending time with loved ones.
“We are having a lazy pyjama day, and my two-year-old just picked up her pencil and conducted that last number,” said one listener.
Another family was heading off to their annual Classic 100 weekend together in Gippsland.
Not wanting to miss a minute, a footy-lover was watching the game with a soundtrack of the Classic 100: Feel Good, while another was blow drying their hair while wearing an earbud headphone and dancing away.
Many perennial classical favourites made the list, but it was music of more recent times that dominated the countdown, with the majority of music from the top 100 composed in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Music for the screen brings the feel-good factor
Demonstrating a shift from previous countdowns, 25 of the pieces chosen were composed for the screen. This is the highest number from any countdown that wasn’t focused on music from film, TV or video games.
From the music of Star Wars composer John Williams to Joe Hisaishi’s scores for the Studio Ghibli films, music for the screen resoundingly made audiences feel good.
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Bluey, Bingo, Bandit and Chilli also made an appearance, with Joff Bush’s music for Bluey coming in at number 75 and was the most popular choice among voters 17 and under.
Other Australian screen entries included Nigel Westlake’s score for the 1991 documentary Antarctica, and the score for the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s River, with music by Kalkadunga man William Barton, Richard Tognetti and Piers Burbrook de Vere.
A total of 14 Australian composers featured in countdown across 11 works.
The highest placed Australian was Elena Kats-Chernin for Wild Swans, which features Eliza Aria, one of the best-known Australian compositions globally, thanks to its inclusion in a commercial for a big UK bank in the 2000s.
Musical theatre was included in the voting list for the first time in 2024, with three making the top 100: West Side Story (29), Singin’ In The Rain (62) and The Sound of Music (92).
Beethoven was the most popular composer in the countdown, with seven pieces making the top 100, followed by Mozart with five. Screen again proved strong with four much-loved film scores by John Williams making the list.
Other feel-good favourites also had strong connections to the screen, such as French impressionist composer Debussy’s Clair de lune. The piece has appeared in films as varied as Ocean’s Eleven and Twilight and underpinned the score for the Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once.
The feel-good vibes continue past the top of the countdown
Holst’s The Planets came in second and was the most popular choice for voters aged 35-54. The work also has a screen connection, with the movement Jupiter put to beautiful use in the Sleepytime episode of Bluey.
Bizet’s opera The Pearl Fishers, which features the famous Pearl Fishers Duet (Au fond du temple saint), took out third place.
While the countdown is over, the celebrations continue. This year’s Classic 100 will come to life in a special performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra showcasing highlights from the top 100.
Hosted by ABC’s Megan Burslem and Jeremy Fernandez and conducted by Principal Conductor in Residence Benjamin Northey, the Classic 100 in Concert premieres Saturday, 29 June, at 7:30pm, on ABC TV, live streamed on ABC iview and simulcast on ABC Classic.
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